Production Expert Podcast

In this week’s edition Julian and  Ashea are joined by Reid Caulfield, where they discuss a recent article from the LA Times and ask ‘Is AI coming for our jobs, and should we be worried?’

Talking Points:

LA Times Article:
https://www.latimes.com/.../ai-artificial-intelligence...

From the article:

"In the music and sound-recording industry, the tasks most likely to  be affected by AI are voice generation and cloning, music generation and  recording and lyrics composition,  followed by mastering, mixing and  tools programming, according to the study.

More than 50% of survey  participants anticipated that AI would displace sound designers in the  next three years, while more than 40% saw AI coming for music editors,  audio technicians and sound engineers. Roughly a third of respondents  predicted a similar fate for songwriters, composers and studio  engineers."

Our thoughts on the survey

Bearing this in mind how should audio professional go about keeping themselves valuable (better than A.I)?

How can we use A.I to our advantage?

Finds of the week:
Julian: PSI Audio A17-M
Ashea: Landscape With Invisible Hand
Reid: Altiverb 8, Arrival

On request of our listeners. In this week's episode Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Paul Maunder where they give tried and tested advice on  how to make a living in today's audio industry.


Talking Points:

• What was your first pro gig and how did that come about?
• Getting work in a traditional studio setting
• Freelancing
• Types of clients and how to deal with them
• Balancing a day job
• When/how to transition into full time

Finds of the week:

Ashea: All You Need To Know About The Music Business
Russ: Criminal Record Show , i73 Pro
Paul: Deity Theos digital radio mics

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Oliver Thomas and Maurice Patist from PMC.

Talking Points:

PMC & its history - background of company

Relationship with UGM/Dolby

PMC and suitability for Immersive - any particular features which you think make them particularly suitable?

How does an ATL differ from a ported or band pass cabinet in performance?

PMC and DSP, Network Control

What, if anything, can you share about future developments at PMC?

Finds of the week:
Julian: Focusrite Vocaster Two
Ashea: Crumple Pop Plosive Remover
Maurice: Voyage Audio Spatial Mic, Julia Holter Something In The Room She Moves
Oliver: Audient Oria

Talking Points:

In this episode Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes & Lexie Morgan of HHB London and formerly iZotope, to give three different perspectives on the recent UK government report about the obstacles women are met with while pursuing a career in the music industry.

Summary of the UK Government report:

The Report:

Production Expert Article:

Let’s briefly discuss how we feel about this report and how our experiences correspond with the data from the report.

Sexual Harassment & Safety Issues:
What safety & other measures do studios and workplaces need to put into place? What desperately needs changing?

Dismantling The Bias:
Change needs to take place from within. As well as the wonderful work that women (and men) are already doing to improve things, we also need to get more help from our male colleagues, bosses, fellow artists etc. What can men do to be better ‘allies’?

Mentioned In This Podcast:
https://www.production-expert.com/home-page/2017/7/31/pro-tools-expert-podcast-episode-280

Finds of the week:
Ashea: Quickbooks App
Russ: Billy Joel - Turn The Lights Back On
Lexie: Poor Things Movie

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Eli Krantzberg where they discuss some of the stand out gear and plugins from NAMM 2024.

Talking Points:
Wolff Audio Console
Heritage Audio i73
SSL 360
Blue Cat Audio
Yamaha- Seq track
Raven MTi2
Beyerdynamic -DT-770-pro
ACE Studio - AI vocal synthesizer

Finds Of The Week:
Julian: Kii SEVEN
Ashea: Solodome
Eli: The red plastic water flask my wife got me for NAMM

In this week's edition Julian & Ashea are joined by audio engineer and current student James Watts, where they discuss ​​whether music education is adapting to meet the evolving needs of students and the industry.

Talking Points:

How much emphasis is placed on the following?

• Hands on experience, using hardware, navigating a mixing desk and traditional studio setups.
• A.I and one knob plugins: How granular are you taught to get with plugins?:
• Career Goals & Prospects: Training for commercial studio vs freelancer.
• The role of entrepreneurship, how the industry,networking and career advancement is changing.

Finds of the week:
Julian:  Avid NAMM Tech Preview
Ashea: VEA
James: Pythogorean Tuning

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by  Steve DeMott where they discuss the importance and power of saying 'no' in a music production environment. 

Talking Points:

‘The Power of No’ in music production, recording & mixing.
 Expanding on William Wittmans article:

Finds of the week:
Julian: PMC 6-2
Ashea: Sketch Casette 2
Steve: Zoom H6 field recorder

 In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by James Richmond where they discuss some of the stand out developments of last year.

In the final edition of 2023, Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes & Reid Caulfield.  Where they discuss the important topic of managing mental health, particularly in the audio industry.

Talking Points:

• Dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues that plague freelancers and audio professionals. 
  
  
• The stigma attached to mental health issues.
  
  
• The role of social media and how it can affect our mental health.
  
  
• Coping and good practices to reduce stress etc.

Finds of the week:

Russ: A Therapeutic Journey Book
Ashea: Contact- Movie
Reid: The Demon- Haunted World , Blink, McDSP SA3

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Ary Maudit, where they discuss studio roles, terminology and definitions, are they changing, if so how?

Talking Points

• As an engineer at Strongroom, what is your role, and what are the main things you get asked to do? Have you witnessed people’s role changing/morphing over time, if so how?
• Producer, beatmaker, songwriter let’s discuss our interpretations of those roles and how they have developed/changed.
• Stems,multitracks. Any definitions that are commonly confused?
• Our thoughts on Russ’ article. https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/its-none-of-your-business-how-people-choose-to-make-music

Finds of the week:
Julian: PSP Auralcomp
Ashea: Nutribullet Blender
Ary: Amedeo Modigliani

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Nathaniel Reichman, where they discuss the things they loved in the month of November. 

Talking Points:

•  Universal Audio Opens LUNA to All Mac Users in Inclusive Software Update
•  Avid Now A Private Company As STG Completes Acquisition
•  Apple Logic Pro For Mac And iPad Updated - Includes Mastering Assistant And More
•  Serato Unexpectedly Announce Native Apple Silicon Support For Pitch 'n Time  Plugin
•  Steinberg Nuendo 13 Announced : A Comprehensive Update for Post-Production Professionals
• Slate and SSL Gobbler
•  Universal Audio Sound City Plugin Announced
•  Spatial Audio And Using Audiomovers Binaural Renderer For Apple Music 
• Ginger Audio iRender Spatial Released
•  SSL E 4K released
  
  

Finds of the week:

Julian: Loudspeakers For Music Recording And Reproduction
Ashea: Fletcher & Mills Studio Desk 
Nathaniel: ChatGPT 3.5’s new voice conversation feature 

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by Graham Kirkman, where they discuss the gear and software that they wouldn't want to live without.

Talking Points:

• Let’s discuss some of the gear/software that we find ourselves relying on and why that is.
• Open Back Headphones, 
• Sit Stand Desk, 
• Macbook Pro,
• VisLM, 
• Celemony Melodyne. 
• Neve 1073 Mic Pre, 
• Neumann U87. 
• Logic Pro

Finds of the week:

Julian: Caldigit TS3 Plus -

Ashea: Waves Silk Vocal 

Graham: Supperware Bridgehead 

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Eli Krantzberg, where they dissect the meaning of the commonly used term 'Sounds Like A Record'.

Talking Points:

• We hear the terms ‘radio ready’ and ‘sounds like a record’ used a lot in this industry, so let’s break down the elements that make a song worthy of that statement, and why do some songs fail to sound like this?
  
  
• Music is constantly changing, and so the definition of a ‘record’ surely has too. Let's compare some hits of yesteryear and how they match up to those of today.
  
  
• Can a  great production/mix make an average song sound like a record?
  
  
• Gear and tools used on many of the great records. 
  
  
• Eli, as we have you on, let’s discuss the new Logic Pro updates.  

Finds Of The Week:

Julian: Sonos Era 300
Ashea: Witness For The Prosecution Play
Eli: Model N Channel 

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Steve DeMott, where they discuss the future of music production and emerging trends in the world of audio.

Talking Points:

• Let’s discuss some of the new trends and practices we are seeing pop up in the industry in general.
  
  
• Steve, you mentioned a few days ago that you’ve noticed a trend in audio plugins, how they seem to be geared towards improving subpar recording techniques- Let’s discuss this point.
  
  
• Are there any areas that need more attention in terms of technological development?
  
  
• Are there areas that we feel would be best left to traditional practices and can’t/shouldn’t be solved by a plugin?
  
  

Finds of the week:

Julian: McDSP SA3
Ashea: Miloco Gear's Pro Audio Showcase Returns
Steve: KiiveAudio Complexx

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Luke Steven Ramsay, where they discuss how to revive and make use of old material, that’s currently collecting dust on our hard drives. 

Talking Points

• Do you have a lot of unfinished material sitting around on your hard drive? If so, why do you think that is?
  
  
• Let’s discuss some useful ways as producers we can make use of the old unfinished material.
  
  
• Are there some good tools you know of to speed up & help the process of finishing songs?
  
  
• Platforms that allow us to put our work to good use, e.g beatstars, sample libraries etc

Finds of the week:

Julian: Live From Daryl’s House Glenn Tilbrook
Ashea: New Logic Pro Updates
Luke: Middle Kids Dramamine

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by William Wittman, where they discuss the things they loved in October.

Talking Points:

• Supertone- Clear Voice Separator (Goyo)
• Gik Acoustic- SlatFusor 4S
• Harrison Audio Mixing Console
• Landr Mastering Plugin,*
• Presonus- Open Source DAW Collaboration
• Maag Audio Pre Q2

Finds Of The Week:
Julian - New Macbook Pro
Ashea- New Super Atomic Material
William - Eventide MicroPitch Immersive 

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea & Siobhan Anderson. Where they compare 3 of the most well known DAWs and ask, ´Does your DAW do this?´

Talking Points:

• What first attracted you to your DAW of choice?
• Let’s briefly discuss platform compatibility for Logic X, Pro Tools & Ableton
• What do you like about your DAWs user interface? Have you tried other DAWs, what didn’t you like about them?
• MIDI, Virtual Instruments and samplers: What is this like with the DAW you use, is there room for improvement?
• Audio Recording and Editing.
• How does your DAW of choice fit into your workflow?
  
  
  Finds Of The Week:
  
  
• Julian - 32 Classic Mixing Console
• Ashea-LANDR Mastering Plugin
• Siobhan - Natural Symphony

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea & Marcel Schechter from Genelec , where they discuss  ‘Solving Room Acoustics For Better Mixes ’

Talking Points

• What are some common acoustic problems in recording studios, and how can they be solved?
  
  
• How can room size and shape impact the acoustics of a recording space?
  
  
• Are there specific materials or treatments that are essential for improving room acoustics in a studio?
  
  
• .What role does speaker placement play in achieving optimal room acoustics for mixing and monitoring?
  
  
• What advice do you have for home studio owners on a budget who want to improve their room acoustics for better audio quality?
  
  
• Are there any myths or misconceptions about room acoustics that you'd like to debunk?
  
  
• What are some common mistakes that recording engineers make when dealing with room acoustics, and how can they be avoided?
  
  
• Let's Talk SAM, GLM, GRADE Reporting etc
  
  
• How can the UNIO Audio Monitoring Platform help with the points we’ve just discussed?

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian -  Lola Young Conceited
• Ashea- UAD Free Plugin LA 2A
• Marcel - Jacob Collier Little Blue

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Paul Maunder and Roger Guerin, where they discuss the pros and cons of an education in audio. 

Talking Points:

• How has education helped you in terms of knowledge and your career?
• There’s a plethora of free material online, on Youtube etc, how valuable is learning via this method?
• The value of structured courses. ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’
• Should we learn from the very beginning? Can learning backwards be a thing?
• Online vs attended courses.
• How important is studying audio engineering in the era of A.I & assisted mixing etc. Can you still be a good producer/engineer without this knowledge?

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - Shure SM7dB
• Ashea-Antares- Spanish Language
• Paul - Soundly Cloud libraries
• Roger-Amie (by Meyer)

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and Steve DeMott. Where they discuss the ‘Things We Loved In September  ’

Talking Points:

• Export Selection In Pro Tools 2023.9
• Autobounce
• Pro Tools Sketch
• DX Revive 
• Nugen AB Assist
• Sontec MES-439-D9D
• Mixland Vac Attack Vacuum Tube Limiter
  
  Finds Of The Week:
• Julian - Kii Seven
• Ashea- Encounters- Docuseries Netflix
• Steve-  Sontec MES-439-D9D

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and James Richmond, where they discuss Perpetual Licences vs Subscription Models.

Talking Points

Pro Tools Perpetual Licences are now available for sale exclusively through authorised Avid resellers, they will not be sold via the Avid Web Store, thoughts on this?

Pros and cons of perpetual licences vs subscription-based models from both the consumer and companies perspective.

Compatibility issues-  Operating Systems- Backwards forwards compatibility- legacy versions. 

What considerations should audio professionals keep in mind when deciding between perpetual licenses and subscription-based access for their software tools?

How do perpetual licenses affect software updates and support? Are there potential drawbacks in terms of staying up-to-date with technology? (Avids announcement re updates).

Are there specific scenarios or types of users for whom perpetual licenses make more sense, and conversely, situations where subscription models might be preferable?

In the ever-evolving world of audio technology, how do perpetual licenses impact the long-term sustainability and compatibility of software tools?

 With the rise of cloud-based services and remote collaboration, how do perpetual licenses fit into the changing landscape of audio production and software accessibility?

 What advice would you give to audio professionals looking to make informed decisions about licensing models and software access in today's market?

How do licensing models impact the relationship between software developers and users? Are there community and support differences between perpetual and subscription models?

Finds of the week:
Julian - Blue Cat Audio Axiom
Ashea- Slate Digital- Infinity Bass
James- Razer Basilisk V3 Pro mouse and SteerMouse

In this week’s edition Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes & Vincent Hervy, where they discuss, how A.I and new technology  is changing the audio industry.

• Ways in which A.I/ new technology has changed the way we work in music up until now
• How will our jobs need to evolve with the ever improving advances in technology?
• How can we make A.I work to our advantage?

Finds of the week:
Toy Box Audio- Thump One
The Godfather Of Harlem - TV Series

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and William Wittman, where they  discuss the hottest new releases for August.

Talking Points:

•  Avid Pro Tools Sketch
• Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen Interface
• Sonnox Voca
• STL Tones Control Hub
• UJAM UFX Reverb
• Allen & Heath CQ Series Mixers

Finds of the week:

Julian - Audio Plugin Uninstaller
Ashea- Acon Digital Remix Real-Time AI Stem Separation Plugin
William- TONEX Pedal 

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and Gareth Nuttall, where they discuss  how arrangement can affect the mix.

Talking Points:

• How often do you end up changing parts of the arrangement to improve a mix? 
• The importance of sound selection, layers and instrument placement.
• Frequency masking and arrangement tricks that can help. 
• Filling in frequency gaps:
• Combining kick and bass, for a better low end.
• Vocal layers and processing

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - Miso Gochujang noodles
• Ashea- Sonnox Voca
• Gareth - Korneff Audio- Amplified Instrument Processor

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Graham Kirkman and Steve DeMott who discuss ‘Plugin UIs. What are the important things that developers need to consider?’

Talking Points:

• How important are visuals to us?
• Visual, graphical displays vs skeuomorphic designs, what are some of the pro’s and cons?
• What Plugin UI features do you think improve your mix/production decisions and why? 
• Inter-Plugin communication and why is that useful to us?
• How can plugin developers make better use of the technology available today?

Finds of the Week:

Julian - David Bennet Piano Beatles 7 Modes
Ashea- Mixing Night Audio- LOL Comp
Graham - Mix To Mobile
Steve - Fender J Bass

In this week's podcast, Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Karen Down (The Support Squad) who discuss 'Mental Health In The Music Industry'.

• What are some of the challenges and pressures that audio professionals face in the music industry that might impact their mental health?
• Pressures of freelancing-How do we address the financial and emotional pressures that audio professionals might experience, and how does this impact their mental well-being? 
• How does the music industry handle issues like sickness burnout, anxiety, and depression, which can be prevalent in this field?
• How do you address the stigma around mental health in the music industry and create a supportive environment for musicians/artists?

Finds Of The Week

• Russ- Colin From Accounts- Tv Show
• Ashea- Essentialism- Book
• Karen- Sound Of Silence- Song by Disturbed

In this week’s podcast Julian is  joined by Ashea, Dom Morley and Steve DeMott who discuss ‘How much do traditional analogue rules still apply today?’

• All four of us are producers/mixers of slightly different vintage, so it would be interesting to go around the table and hear a little about which techniques & practices we learned from and perhaps how that affects our workflow today.
•  Gainstaging, 
• 32 bit recording- Is anyone working with this?
• Analogue workflow (e.g. making decisions early, capturing “the sound” from the start vs. capturing a clean sound to manipulate later, etc).
• Mixing/Producing in and out of the box, we compare techniques and results.
• Favourite analogue emulation plugins, how do they compare to the real deal?

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - The Rest Is Politics Podcast
• Ashea - Techivation M-De-Esser
• Dom - PSP Audio BinAmp
• Steve- Dynaudio 9S subwoofer

In this week's Episode Julian is joined by Ashea and James Richmond, they discuss the new product releases of July 2023.

Talking Points

Air- Sprite 

SSL G3

Scheps Omni Channel 2

Slate Digital VIRTU

WavesFactory Equaliser

RME Fireface

Sound Particles Audio Matrix

Find Of The Week

• Julian - Focusrite Vocaster
• Ashea- Oura Ring
• James- DADlink from DAD/Avid

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by George Tizzard and Rick Parkhouse of SUPER-Hi talking about the creative vision and technical decision making behind a chart hit. 

Talking Points

• Starting a track, what is your approach, does it change depending on the vibe/artist?
• Producing for very established artists, what is the process, how involved are the labels/artist in the sound and how does that differ to writing your own material?
• Making the ‘right’ decisions in production is very important, how do you deal with decision making?
• Samples, presets, sound design, any go to plugins that you use.
• Behind the track: Choose a track, either as Super-Hi or Red Triangle that you’d like to share with us. What was the production process ?
• Working together, do you have set roles? How to work successfully as a production duo
• Thoughts on A.I, are you already embracing this, if so how?
• Favourite studio gear and why?

Find Of The Week

• Julian - The Songs Of David Bowie - Songbook 1973
• Ashea- Sonible- Smart Gate
• Rick- Kilohearts Trancegate, Underwater jet pack
• George - Sheet Music Could Have Been Me The Struts

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Ashea and Ian Shepherd for a discussion about about mastering in the streaming age.

Ian Shepherd is a mastering engineer of 25 years experience who has become well known for his work around the detrimental effects of the loudness wars. He runs the Production Advice blog and hosts The Mastering Show podcast.

Talking Points

• Mastering for Streaming Platforms, let’s talk specifics
• Loundness Normalisation and Album Normalisation
• Loudness Wars, are they still a thing? Do we still need loud masters?
• True Peak Limiters vs normal limiters
• Clipping
• Widening mixes

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Genelec GRADE Reports
• Ashea - Pope Audio
• Ian - AM coustics, Who Killed the KLF

In this weeks podcast Julian is joinned by Ashea and Eli Krantzberg.  We have a belated discussion of the new releases in June 2023 and having two experienced Logic users on the show we have a discussion of Logic and the significance of the coming of Logic to the iPad.

Finds of The Week

• Julian - Genelec 8341 and 7350A
• Ashea- Cableguys Shaperbox
• Eli - The Private Equity Buyout Of Music Production

Following up from our podcast looking at how post mixers use the new expanded Track Widths in Pro Tools 2023.6 Julian and Ashea are joined by Steve Genewick and Nathaniel Reichman to discuss Atmos for Music and whether track widths beyond 7.1.2 are significant for music mixers.

Finds Of The Week

• Ashea - Gearfest UK
• Nathaniel - Auto Align 2
• Steve - Vanguard Audio V44S
• Julian - UAD Capitol Mastering Compressor

In this week’s Podcast Julian is joined by Ashea, Gareth Nuttall and William Wittman who discuss fixing in the mix. Can it be done successfully?

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - Space Lens in Clean My Mac
• Ashea- Avid Collab with Audio Movers or CHAPEA
• Gareth - Hi Hat Bleed Trick
• William- Dr. Tver Robert pedal by Aclam 

In this weeks episode Julian is joined by Ashea, Roger Guerin and Korey Pereira. They discuss the extended track widths introduced in Pro Tools 2023.6 and what they mean for Atmos mixers.

• Let’s go round the table and talk about each of your current work and how affected by Atmos it is.
• What has changed in Pro Tools 2023.6 regarding Track Widths?
• What is the 7.1.2 ceiling and why does it exist?
• How is greater track widths better? Lets talk about beds vs objects and channel agnosticism. Why is 7.1.4 better than 7.1.2. What about 9.1.6, how does speaker density affect the listening experience?
• What about the two approaches to getting greater widths out of pro tools beds vs static objects. To what extent is this new?
• Are these changes going to affect how you work?

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook 8th Edition Vol 1 
• Ashea - Steinberg Spectralayers
• Roger - Amie loudspeakers by Meyer Sound
• Korey - Kraken DET Speech Recognition Beta

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by Greg Tan and Steve DeMott to discuss producing music for picture.

Talking Points

What is the creative process when composing music for movies/video games. How do you approach capturing the desired mood and atmosphere?

What’s the collaborative process like with directors, producers, and other members of the creative team to understand their vision and translate it into musical compositions? 

When/how does a brief arrive? 

What factors do you consider when creating a score that complements the visual content?

Working with Deadlines: How do you manage your time and resources effectively?

Working with sound libraries or creating custom sound effects for TV and movies? How do you ensure that the sound effects align with the overall audio mix?

Best Software synths, plugins, gear etc…

Are there any specific strategies you use for revisions, feedback, project management, storage space and backups?

Talking Points

Greg - Agency on Netflix
Steve - Audioscape D-Comp Limiter
Ashea - Spatial Audio Festival at Media City Salford
Julian - Batch Converter in Rogue Amoeba's Fission

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Reid Caulfield and James Richmond. We discuss the announcements made at Apple’s WWDC 2023, particularly the much anticipated Apple Silicon Mac Pro.

Talking Points

• Mac Pro - Who needs it when the Mac Studio exists?
• PCI cards - how relevant in 2023?
• Upgradeable SSD is back (kind of)
• New Mac Studio and M2 Ultra
• Game Mode in macOS Sonoma
• Apple Vision Pro

Find Of The Week

• Julian - Waterhaul
• Ashea -Meta AI Tool
• Reid - Goyo
• James - Auto Bounce

In this week's Podcast Julian and Ashea are joined by Russ Hiughes. they discuss the new releases of May 2023.

Talking points

• Genelec 8381A Monitors Announced | Production Expert
• AIR Music Technology Delay Pro Plugin Released | Production Expert
• Apple Logic Pro For iPad Announced | Production Expert
• Plugin Alliance BX Masterdesk PRO
• Toontrack EZkeys 2 Released

Find Of The Week

Russ - Akai MPC Key 61
Ashea - UMG- AI Startup Partnership
Julian - Mimestream

In this week's Podcast Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Alex West, a BBC Radio DJ who works with up and coming bands as part of BBC Introducing. They discuss what makes a radio hit in 2023?

Finds Of The Week

Russ - I/O by Peter Gabriel
Alex - Fizz At Great Escape
Ashea - Slate Digital Storch Filter

In this week's podcast Julian and Ashea are joined by Ary Maudit and Iggy B, both working engineers who spend part of their time working at Strongroom Studios in London. In this podcast we discuss the role of studios in 2023.

Finds Of The Week

• Ashea - Flower Pot Dessert at Bill’s 
• Julian - Mix To Mobile, routing to a Wifi Speaker
• Ary - Bloody Mary
• Iggy - Kara Jackson

in this week’s episode Julian and Ashea are joined by songwriter producer publisher and A&R Greig Watts. We talk about songwriting, the role of producers inthe songwriting process and Eurovision.

Talking Points

• To what extent these days are songs written in a DAW?
• How involved are producers these days in the development of a song and how has that changed over the years?
• How many unfinished songs/tracks do you have on your hard drive and do you ever go back to finish them, if not why would you abandon them?
• When is your favourite time to write, during the day/at night and do you think that can affect your perception?
• How important is the overall mix, production, and song when pitching to labels/publishing?
• Eurovision
• What are 3 plugins that you can’t live without?

Finds Of The Week

Greig -  Jailhouse cafe
Ashea - Softube Model 80
Julian - Christmas Beach Barbecue

In this week's podcast Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Reid Caulfield. They discuss the importance of workflow, as inspired  by Russ' article Sound or Workflow - What Matters Most?

Talking points

• Russ, in your article you talk about the importance of workflow, what inspired that article?
• In his recent article on plugins which he uses on every mix Julian found that none of the plugins he listed were there exclusively because of their sound, it came down to familiarity, ubiquity because they were stock plugins or workflow because they were available as AAX DSP plugins, Does this illustrate this point?
• Examples of gear/plugins and have significantly helped speed up or simplify your workflow?
• A.I and how that will help us as producers and engineers.

Find Of The Week

Russ - Acon Digital Dialog Extract
Reid - Soundflow
Ashea -  Waves Superapp Performer

In this week's Podcast Julian and Ashea are joined by Russ Hughes to discuss the new products released in April 2023.

• Toontrack EZkeys 2 Announced
• Neumann MT 48 Audio Interface Announced
• Sound Radix Auto-Align 2 Released
• Antares Auto-Tune EFX+ 10.0 and Auto-Key 2 Released
• Speed Up Collaborative Mixes With Nugen Jotter

Finds Of The Week

Julian - Sonnox Envolution
Ashea - Grimes AI 50% Royalties
Russ - Freakonomics Podcast - Swearing

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Ashea and NAMM stalwart James Ivey to discuss the show and the products which were being shown!

Julian

• Sound Radix Auto Align 2
• Yamaha DM3
• Sound Particles Skydust 3D
• Yamaha CK88

James

• Vangard Audio Labs - Stereo Tube/Valve Condenser Mic
• Nektar CS12 Channel Strip Controller.
• Antelope Audio Atlas i8 Active Speakers
• Fender Rhodes Mk8

Ashea

• Dreamtonics VStudio
• Eclipsed Sounds

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Stian Aagedal of Acon Digital. They discuss Plugins, computers, processing and AI.

Finds Of The Week

Stian - MusicLM from Google Research
Julian  - Benidub Audio Electronics Digital Echo

In this weeks edition Julian is joined by Russ and Platinum selling songwriter and producer Ashea. They discuss developments and releases in March, including a discussion of the Waves subscription announcement and subsequent retraction.

• Waves…
• Audient iD24 1st look
• Fabfilter Twin 3 Synth Virtual Instrument - Expert Review
• Pro Tools 2023.3
• Cranborne Audio Carnaby 500 Harmonic EQ Announced

Finds of the Week

Ashea - Musikhack Master Plan
Russ - Cranbourne Audio Camden EC1 Preamp
Julian - The Lazarus Heist

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Matt Lange and Greg Chin of Avid. We discuss Avid’s new monthly content program Sonic Drop.

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Kimchi Grilled Cheese
• Matt - Cello bow on Jackson 8 string
• Greg - Aikido Pioneers - Prewar Era by Stanley Pranin

On this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Roland Stenz of Eve audio and Tonmeister Sebastian Breiter. They discuss designing and testing studio monitors and the philosophy behind Eve Audio.

Finds Of The Week

Julian - Rediscoverng a clear desk
Roland - Reading real books
Sebastian - Streaming masters to a smartphone using Sonobus

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Mike Thorne and Paul Maunder. Three Pro Tools users, they discuss potential new features they would like to see in a future version of Pro Tools.

Finds Of The Week

Mike - Massenburg Design Works MDWDRC2
Paul - Synology 8 Bay NAS
Julian - The massive waves at his local beach this morning!

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Russ Hughes and Mike Exeter to discuss the new releases of February 2023.

• DAW Survey results
• UAD Native
• FabFilter Twin 3 Released
• Flux Evo series bundle - first look
• Softube Icons: The Compressor Collection Released
• Tierra New Twenties

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Charity Shop guitar stand
• Russ - The Gold  
• Mike - Massenburg Dynamic Range Controller

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Steve DeMott and Luke Goddard for a discussion on microphone polar patterns. Cardioid might be the default choice for many but many issues can be solved by using the alternative patterns.

Finds Of The Week

Steve - JBL 104-BT
Luke - Third Man Hardware x Coppersound Triplegraph Pedal
Julian - Yum Audio Spread Light

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by William Wittman who follows up his excellent article  The Great Balance Mix Off in which he tasked three experienced mixers to mix the same track using a restricted set of tools as would be found in the monitor section of a split console.

William is joined by mixers John Agnello and JJ Blair who both participated in the challenge, hear their thoughts on the challenge.

Finds Of The Week

Because of the change in format for this week's podcast there are no finds of the week this week.

In this week's podcast Julia n is joined by Korey Pereira and Reid Caulfield. they discuss use of headphones both by professionals and by consumers and how this affects their work.

Finds Of The Week

Reid - AI Plugins like Waves Clarity
Korey - Pro Tools Aux IO
Julian - Laoganma Crispy Chilli Oil

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Russ and Mike Thorne to discuss releases and products we've liked in January 2023.

• Universal Audio Release Successors To Townsend Labs Sphere L22
• Steven Slate Audio VSX Headphone Mixing System Tested
• Apple Announce New Mac Mini and MacBook Pro With M2 Pro And M2 Max 
• Audient EVO SP8 Smart Mic Preamp Announced

Finds of The Week

• Julian - Steel Plate in Lustrous Plates
• Russ - Pro Tools Carbon
• Mike - PACE ZDT

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Steve DeMott and Nathaniel Reichman. they discuss Stock Plugins. Which do they use, and why if they have premium alternatives availble?

Finds Of the Week

• Julian - Adobe Podcast
• Steve -  Great River Electronics Harrison 32EQ 
• Nathaniel - Cory Doctorow’s new book “Chokepoint Capitalism” 

In this week’s edition Julian joined by Steve DeMott and Luke Goddard. We’re going to be talking about the 'secret' to a good mix.

Finds Of The Week

Julian - 5 Old But Gold Pro Tools Plugins
Steve -  United Studio Technologies UT-Twin87
Luke - Big Fat Snare Drum- Snare-Bourine-Donut

In this week's Podcast Julian is Joined by James Richmond, who has just bought his second Mac Studio, and Russ Hughes who has just bought his first. With some real world experience and very different reasons for moving to the Mac Studio we hear the backstories of these two users.

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Expressive E Osmose
• Russ - Empower Station Mac Studio Rackmount Kit
• James -  Timbral

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Mixer/Engineer/Producer Craig Bauer and Joel Heatley from Synchro Arts. They discuss the new RePitch plugin and vocal production.

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Focusrite Customer Aftercare
• Craig - Paul McCartney: The Stories Behind 50 Classic Songs, 1970-2020
• Joel - Brian Eno's Book A Year Of Swollen Appendices

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Ephie DeAngelis, Nathan Cable and Carlos Mas, we’re going to be talking about studio personnel, with a particular focus on the role of Assistant Engineer

Finds O

• Julian - Karen Down’s SSL Video for SOS
• Nathan - Avid LoFi  
• Carlos - Simon Gallup (Cure Bassist)
• Ephie - Chipotle Cholula Hot Sauce

In this, the last podcast of 2022,  Julian is joined by  Russ Hughes and Luke Goddard,  talking about the developments in audio in 2022 in our review of the year.

May

• Sonarworks Sound ID Reference Multichannel
• Logic 10.7.3 with binaural spatial/Atmos monitoring
• Three Body Technology Kirchhoff EQ - Expert Review
• Pro Tools ARA Integration With Melodyne
• Mac Studio
• PT 2022.9 - Aux IO
• Studio One 6
• Toontrack Hugh Padgham's Hitmaker SDX
• MBOX Studio
• PT Intro
• Exclusive: Avid Slash Price Of Pro Tools For Pro Users

Finds Of The Week

• Russ - Mac Studio
• Luke - SSL UF8
• Julian - Nord Electro 6D

In this week's Production Expert podcast. I’m Julian Rodgers and in this week’s edition Julian is joined by Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe & Tom Griffin from Nugen Audio.

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - bx_bassdude - Free with the Avid Inner Circle offer
• Tom - ‘Rock in a hard place’ 
• Freddy - Oeksound Soothe 2

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Damain Kearns talking about podcasting. The equipment, approach, techniques and pitfalls to be found when creating a podcast.

Finds of the Week

Julian  - My overlooked AKG D112
Damian - Accentize Deroom Pro

In this weeks Podcast Julian is joined by Russ and Dom Morley. They discuss the new products released in November 2022 and share their finds of the week.

• New Hitsville Reverb Chambers And PolyMax Synth Announced In UAD v10.2
• Exclusive: Avid Slash Price Of Pro Tools For Pro Users
• Massenburg DesignWorks MDWDRC2-Native Released
• Waves BB Tube & Lil Tube
• elgato Stream Deck Plus Programmable USB Controller Released

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Yamaha FC7 Expression pedal
• Russ - Dexed DX7 VI
• Dom - Heritage Audio Successor

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Francois Quereuil and David Toomey of Avid to discuss changes to the Pro Tools software lineup, new hardware and new developments at Avid.

Finds Of The Week

Francois - Strymon BigSky Reverb Plugin
David - McCartney 1,2,3 on Hulu
Julian - IK Multimedia iLoud Precision 5

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Eric Horstmann and Andy Bensley from Genelec. They discuss the company, its history, its approach to sustainbility and developments in immersive monitoring including GLM, Aural ID and GRADE reporting.

Finds of the Week

• Julian - PureMix’s new series on Brauerising in the box
• Eric - 360 Sony 
• Andy - Rhodes Mk8

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Bob Brown from Evergreen Audio Design Group who have just released Massive Meter, an interesting product which, for those working on the biggest post production stages, provides the answer to a problem which was previously very difficult to address.

• Julian - Free Plugin TAL Vocoder
• Bob - Ron Carter's Finding the right notes

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Russ and James Richmond to discuss the new products released in October 22.

• MBOX Studio
• SSL Origin 16
• Evergreen Massive Meter
• Process Audio Spicerack
• Inner Circle  - Get any of 130 PA plugins free

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Keeping it simple (compressor gig story)
• Russ - Listen bus in Pro Tools
• James - Apple Shortcuts & Smart Plugs

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Mattias Eklund and Rikk Currence from Toontrack for an enlightening conversation about all things Toontrack.

Finds Of The Week

Mattias - It’s colder in Chicago than he expected (and Mattias is from Sweden…)
Rikk - Love Is Blind on Netflix
Julian - Sydney Morning Herald Fairlight CMI Documentary

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Audrey Martinovich and Steve DeMott. They discuss setting up headphone mixes in the studio and the newly announced MBOX Studio from Avid.

Finds Of The Week

Julian - MBOX STUDIO
Audrey - Abbey Road De-mix
Steve - SoundSkulptor MP-AB528 EMI style 500 series preamp 

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Mike Exeter and Luke Goddard. They discuss tracking. Passing over conversations about what mic to point where, instead they talk about when, where and how to track and talk about common issues.

Finds Of The Week

Julian - Xpand! 2
Luke - Acon Digital DeVerberate 3
Mike - Kurzweil K2000

UPDATED - This podcast has been re-uploaded, the previous upload was incomplete.

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Russ and Paul Maunder. they discuss the new releases of September 2022, a month which saw new versions of Pro Tools, Studio One and iZotope RX.

Finds of The Week

Russ - Toontrack Hugh Padgham's Hitmaker SDX
Julian - Pro Tools 2022.9
Paul - Accentize Chameleon 2 

In this week’s edition we're joined by Saf Elmansour and Henrik Bridger From Antares. We discuss all things Auto-Tune and more.

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - Dolby Atmos Music Training
• Henrik - Noble Amps Preamp
• Saf - Grace Jones is still performing

In this weeks episode Julian is joined by Damian Kearns and Mariana Hutton discussing developments in Post in August 2022, with a focus on recent content on Post Production related content on Production Expert.

Finds Of The Week

Julian - Rode Fuzzmeasure
Mariana - Unfiltered Audio Tails
Damian - Waves Sibilance

In this weeks episode Julian is joined by Robbie Dwyer and Luke Goddard to discuss the new products released in August 2022

Finds Of The Week

Robbie - Origin Effects 65 black panel
Luke - Eventide Physion
Julian - Adam A4V

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Stephen Wheatley of LimitEar, a company who specialise in the issues around professional users of headphones. He shares important information about the nature of the risks and what you might do to minimise the potential damage to your hearing.

Finds Of the Week

Stephen - Article on link between hearing loss and dementia
Julian - DDFM Plugin Doctor V2

In this week's Episode Julian is joined by Grammy award winning engineer and producer Dom Morley and platinum selling songwriter, producer & audio engineer Ashea to discuss exactly what 'producer' means in today's industry.

Finds Of The Week:

Dom - NFT university course
Ashea - FN Meka Becomes first AI rapper dropped by major label
Julian - Melodyne ARA Integration With Pro Tools Announcement

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Russ and Matt Hill of Liquidsonics and Christian Scheuer of SoundFlow in a podcast which discusses how the size of the companies you deal with affects your experience, particularly when it comes to pro audio brands.

Finds Of The Week

Christian - The subtle art of not giving a F*CK
Matt - Quantum 2772 Evolution
Russ - Songfacts
Julian - Netflix - We Are The Champions (Cheese Rolling Episode)

This week's episode expands on the subject matter of our article 6 Audio Interfaces That Changed The World... Possibly. Julian is joined by Russ and James Richmond as they discuss interfaces they have owned, the good the bad and the no longer supported...

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - Blackstar Ampfly 2
• James - Cableguys Shaperbox Bundle 
• Russ - 'The Boys' on Amazon Prime

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Luke Goddard and Nathanial Reichman to discuss the new releases of July 2022.

• Krotos studio
• Acon Digital Extract Dialogue plugin update
• Sennheiser Acquires Merging Technologies
• Netflix Roll Out Spatial Audio Support
• Vienna Symphonic Library Vienna MIR Pro 3D Released
• Three Body Technology Kirchhoff EQ - Expert Review
• Why You Shouldn't Ignore The IK Multimedia MODO Bass 2
• Neumann Announce M49V Reissue

Finds Of The Week

Nathaniel - new workflow: real-time Spatial Audio monitoring while mixing
Luke - Sound Radix Powair
Julian - K&M 18950 table Style Keyboard Stand

In this week's podcast, following on from Russ' article 5 Things That Defined The Sound Of 80s Music Production Julian is joined by Steve DeMott and William Wittman to discuss the music, the studios and the gear of the 1980s.

Finds Of The week

Julian - Presonus AIR10s
Steve - Signal Art U47 Premium Reference Edition
William - Lutron Caseta “Smart” switches

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Matthew Collings from Krotos and Post Production specialist Paul Maunder to discuss Krotos's products and their use in Post.

Finds Of The Week

Matthew - Interview with Andrew Belt, creator of VCV Rack
Paul - PMC 6 monitors
Julian - Tech 21 MIDI Mouse

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Russ Hughes and Dom Morley to discuss new products which were launched in June. Being the first time NAMM has happened in a long time that gets a mention along with products from Neve to Ikea!

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Apogee Soft Limit
• Russ - Rolling Stones documentary from BBC
• Dom - ‘Factfulness’ Hans Rosling

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Bjorn and Max from Elk Audio, a company who are behind the Elk operating system which is designed from the ground up to minimise audio latency. They discuss this and also Elk Live, a system with which performers can collaborate in real time over a standard internet connection without unacceptable latency.

Finds Of The Week

Bjorn - NI Maschine
Max - Fractal Audio Axe FX
Julian - Novation Mininova

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Andy Allen and Steve Flower from Audient who talk about the company, their products and their approach to audio.

Finds Of the week

Andy - Secret Labs Magnus Metal Desk
Steve - (Not Boring) Habits app by Andy Works
Julian - Instrument Track Trick

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Mark Wherry and Russ Hughes to discuss the announcements at WWDC. The new M2 processors, a couple of new laptops and PHRTFs for Spatial Audio. We consult Mark Wherry, the man who knows more about computers than anyone we know!

Finds Of The Week

Russ - Audient EVO16
Mark - Sound Particles’ Density
Julian - My New T Shirt

In this week's podcast Julian in joined by Daniel Moyler and Cameron Gower-Poole to talk about vocal production. Cameron is a nominee for the Best Vocal Producer award at the MPG awards. This new category is sponsored by Synchro Arts.

Finds Of The Week

Cameron - Valhalla Delay
Daniel - Laundromat
Julian - Waterfall B3

In this week's Podcast Julian speaks with Katie Tavini and Stephen Kerrison of Weird Jungle, a new UK based mastering collective.

Finds Of The Week

Katie - Quinquis - Seim
Stephen - Radiooooo
Julian - Sonarworks SoundID Reference Multichannel

In this week's episode Julian in joined by Russ and James Ivey who discuss the new product releases of May 2022.

Finds Of The Week

Russ - EZ Drummer 3
James - Rode Podcast Pro II
Julian - Rotosound Lemon Oil

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Colin McDowell of McDSP. They discuss the company and the products of this stalwart of the Plugins industry.

Finds Of The Week

Colin - My Dad's engineering books
julian - Genelec GLM 4.2

In this week's podcast Steve DeMott and William Wittman share their experience of conducting a converter shootout between four alternatives including a DSD unit. Find out how they conducted the test and what they found.

Finds Of The Week

• Julian - Freqport FT-1 Freqtube
• Steve - Tomo Audiolabs LISA dynamic EQ
• William - KIT Plug Ins Mo-Q Equaliser

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Mike Exeter and Dom Morley, these two Grammy winners share their thoughts on mixing with particular reference to Russ' recent article 3 Reasons You Think Your Mixes Aren't As Good As Other People's.

Finds Of The Week

Mike - The Sparks Brothers
Dom - Sessionwire
Julian - PreSonus Revelator Mic

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Russ and James Richmond as they discuss the new products and releases of April. There were a lot, including some significant releases!

Finds of The Week

Russ - PG-8X 2.0
James - Fabfilter Pro-G
Julian - Avid SynthCell

In this week's episode Julian speaks. with Nir Averbuch, CEO and co-founder of Sound Radix, one of the most innovative plugin companies out there.

Finds Of The Week

Nir - Midnight Asia
Julian - Somebody Feed Phil - Tel Aviv

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Daniel Rowland from LANDR to discuss what this company do and why they do it. You probably know about he mastering already but there's much more to say here.

Find Of The Week

Daniel - dopr
Julian - Waves Clarity Vx

In this episode Julian speaks with Andrew Scheps about Bounce Factory, his new software which automates even the most complex bouncing tasks from Pro Tools

Finds Of The Week

Andrew: Freakshow Industries Plugins

Julian: UAD Spark

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Russ and Dom Morley who share their thoughts on the new products released in March 2022.

Finds Of The Week:

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Mark Wherry and Russ Hughes who discuss the new Mac Studio, Studio Display and Logic's update.

Finds Of The Week

Mark - Mac Studio
Russ - Waves Clarity Vx, The Dropout
Julian - Logic 10.7.3

In this week's episode Thomas Koritke and Iain Horrocks from e-instruments join Julian. they share the story of the company and their sampled instruments including the extraordinary lengths they had to go to to sample some very valuable Italian violins in Cremona.

 Finds Of The Week

Iain - Tape Notes Podcast
Thomas - David Byrne's American Utopia
Julian - Tease Announcement Of New Mac Pro

In this week's episode we have Tim Carroll, CEO of Focusrite as our guest. We discuss the history and future of the company, the products and the customers who make Focusrite and the associated brands in the Focusrite group what it is today.

Finds of the week:

Tim - Bright Sparks, YouTube documentary on Tom Oberheim created by G Force
Julian - Midiflow Splitter, iOS app for creating keyboard splits with iPad instruments

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Mike Exeter and Russ Hughes to discuss the new gear announced in February 2022 including the new mics from Universal Audio, Waves' CR8 and Cosmos and the PSP Impressor.

Finds Of the Week

Russ - Modo Drums
Mike - Origin Effects Bassrig
Julian - We Are England - When The Boats Come In

In this episode Julian is joined by Russ Hughes who expands on his thoughts on the future of the DAW as proposed in his recent article Is The DAW As We Know It Heading For Extinction?

Finds Of The Week:
Russ - Dopesick
Julian - This video of the TC Helicon Voicelive Touch 2 in use!

In this episode Steve DeMott hosts a discussion with Kevan Gallagher, William Wittman and Russ Hughes about songwriting.

In this episode Julian is joined by Dom Morley and Russ Hughes to discuss the new products announced in Januaury

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Nathaniel Reichman and Mark M Thompson. They discuss the role of Albums in a streaming world.

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Damian Kearns and Steve DeMott. Experienced post and music mixers respectively, and we examine the differences and similarities between the two career paths.

In this week's episode, the first of 2022, Julian, Russ and James Richmond look at the highs and lows of the year just passed.

Back in 2012 Russ sat down with Steven Slate to talk about his work in production, Slate drums and analogue modelled plug-ins.

In this episode Julian is joined by Russ and William Wittman to discuss the new products released in November 2021. 

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Mike Exeter and Dom Morley for a discussion on Intention in mixing. We spend so much time discussing how to do mixes but less time on how we decide what needs doing in the first place! Two experts help unpack the issues. 

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Emre Ramazanoglu and Edgar Rothermich, both people with knowledge of and experience in mixing music for Dolby Atmos. They bring fascinating insight into this rapidly developing area which will affect anyone mixing music today.

In this week's episode Damian Kearns talks to Justin Webster of the Cargo Cult, the company behind products such as Envy, Spanner and Slapper. As well as a discussion of some of the most innovative products available to Post mixers the interview is also interrupted by an earthquake! (really)

You might have seen the job title music editor on a credit roll and wondered what a music editor does and perhaps wondered why do we need music editors? To help us understand, in this week’s Production Expert podcast, we are joined by two music editors: Paul Apelgren and Nathaniel Reichman.

In this week’s edition, we are joined by Bob Katz and Rob Byers to discuss the new updated audio streaming and on-demand services tech recommendations TD1008 from the AES, which we explored recently on Production Expert. 

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Russ and Damian as they look over the product releases from October and pronounce them to be "hit", "miss" or occasionally "hiss" (should that be "mit"?).

In this episode Julian is joined by William Wittman and Steve DeMott for a discussion on songwriting. With free and unrestricted access to studios and more and more music being written directly into the timeline of a DAW, what do we gain and is anything lost?

In this week's podcast Julian is joined by Russ Hughes and Katie Tavini and they discuss clients - How to get good ones and how to make sure everyone leaves happy after a successful project.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Audrey Martinovich and Luke Goddard. In this week’s podcast we’re discussing approaches and techniques for recording acoustic instruments and the musicians who play them.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Mike Exeter and Koery Pirera. As September is all but passed we’re going to talk about what’s happened in Pro Audio in the last month.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Damian Kearns and James Richmond. This week we are talking about things in the studio we think are still worth doing the hard way - outside the computer.

In this week’s podcast, in this week’s edition, Julian joined by Mark Wherry and Russ Hughes. With the recent release of Studio One 5.4, a fully native version of a DAW other than Apple’s Logic Pro for Apple Silicon we are going to discuss the performance gains such a move has indicated and what this means for workflows and user experience.

Note On Audio Quality - The quality of Mark’s audio suffered a little on its journey to us from LA. Please bear with it as what he says is well worth hearing.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Korey Pereira and Steve DeMott. We discuss sounds we can’t, or won’t, hear. From the merits of high sampling rates to the effect of lossy compression, should we be worrying about stuff no-one will hear?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Luke Goddard and Robbie Dwyer. Two Pro Tools users who are happy to use whichever DAW gets the job done. We discuss what life is like outside out personal comfort zones.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by James Ivey and Gareth Young. Both guests are at opposite ends of significant builds and share their experience in the planning and execution of a recording studio project.

In this week’s podcast, Mike is joined by Damian Kearns and Chris Roberts to talk about dialogue editing. From acquisition, through editing and processing to output and deliverables, how do these experts approach their dialogue?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Mark Wherry and James Richmond to talk about the future of computers in audio. Do they do what we need them to and how might they change over the next few years?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by by William Wittman and Damian Kearns to talk about DAWs in the broadest sense. Do they offer the tools we actually need?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by by Mike Thorne and Steve DeMott to talk about moving to Dolby Atmos as a music mixer.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by by Mike Exeter and Luke Goddard to talk about the use and abuse of processing in the studio.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by by Mike Thornton and Russ Hughes to talk about how to stay healthy in the studio.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by by James Richmond and John Cornfield to discuss DAW choice.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by by Dom Morley and Russ Hughes to talk about the principles which should guide us in our careers as audio professionals.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by James Richmond and Steve DeMott to talk through the release of Pro Tools 2021.6. We knew the HDX Hybrid Engine was coming but there was more to this release than that. What do we think?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Dom Morley and and William Wittman (and William’s cat, who can be heard in places, very insistently wanting to join us from the other side of a closed door) to discuss EQ strategies when mixing, specifically the increasingly mainstream “EQ Carving technique”. Is it useful or is it somehow missing the point?

In this week’s podcast, Mike is joined by Garrard Whatley and Howard Bargroff to discuss the changes we see in post production, both those caused by COVID and those caused by technology and other trends in the industry.

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Paul Mortimer and Andy Bensley to discuss speaker calibration. What is it, what can it achieve and how does it sit with traditional acoustic treatment?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by William Wittman and Mike Exeter to discuss whether or not the attention paid to mastering might be better spent by engaging the services of a mix engineer?

In this week’s podcast, Mike is joined by Reid Caulfield and Kevin Dallas to discuss what the future might hold for post production sound.

In this week’s podcast, Russ is joined by Julian and Mike to discuss Macs. What are we using? Why? Did we make the right choice and what, if anything, would we change?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by mastering engineers Katie Tavini and Mike Thorne to discuss mastering. In a time when everyone has access to tools similar to those used by mastering engineers, what can a mastering engineer bring to a project?

In this week’s podcast, Julian is joined by Nir Averbuch and Michael Carnes to explore phase. This fundamental characteristic of audio is much misunderstood and can seem mysterious in a way which other characteristics of audio signals like frequency and amplitude are not. What Is phase and is it really so mysterious?

In this week’s podcast, Russ is joined by Ed Gray and Slau Halatin to explore the challenges around developing audio software for visually impaired and non-sighted people. As our tools have moved from hardware into software some developers have worked hard to make these tools accessible to all but there is still a lot to do. We discuss the issues and the solutions.

In this week’s podcast, Mike is joined by Guillaume Jeulin and Matt Hill to explore the challenges are developing audio software for the Apple Silicon platform as well as what the audio software and pro audio industries might look like a couple of years once ARM-based computers have matured.

In this week’s podcast Julian Rodgers is joined by Mike Exeter and Mike Thorne and asks - If you had to choose between a mixer and a control surface, which would you choose?

In this week’s podcast, Mike Thornton is joined by Roger Guerin and Graham Kirkman to discuss their journey to Dolby Atmos as small one-man-band audio post-production facilities.  We explore Dolby Atmos, why make the jump, what creative opportunities it gives, how workflows have changed, handling remote previews and more. 

Last month Avid announced its 4th quarter and financial results. It’s not something we often report on here at Pro Tools Expert but one stat jumped out at us, that there was a 54.9% year over year growth in subscription revenue growth in the fourth quarter. What this appeared to show is that there is a significant growth in subscriptions and this was something we wanted to investigate. So we asked Avid some questions and rather than give us a statement, Francois Quereuil who is now Vice President Audio, Product Management offered to sit and chat this through and we also discussed now Avid had restructured the business during the pandemic as well as future plans for HDX and the Hybrid Engine. 

In this week’s podcast Russ Hughes is joined by Olga Fitzroy and Dom Morley  asks for a discussion on approaches to recording and mixing.

In this week’s podcast Julian Rodgers is joined by a pro Tools user and someone who doesn’t use Pro Tools to answer the question Is Pro Tools a “must have” for a pro engineer?

In this weeks podcast Russ Hughes is joined by Wesley Devore of PreSonus and Matt Hill of Liquidsonics to discuss the challenges of product development. How do these experienced industry insiders balance the conflicting demands of making a product as good as it can be with making it affordable to the people who need it, and most importantly getting it out on the market in a timely way.

In this week’s podcast Mike Thornton is joined by William Wittman and Audrey Martinovich to discuss approaches to recording groups of musicians in the studio. From technical matters like headphone mixes and mic strategies to the all important people skills we share the approaches and opinions of two working engineers.

In this week’s Production Expert Podcast Mike Thornton is joined by Russ Hughes and PJ Gibbs both of whom have considerable experience of specialist marketing in the Pro Audio sector. they shed some light on how effective marketing can be achieved by single-person freelance creative businesses by following some simple principles and avoiding some common pitfalls.

In this edition of The Production Expert Podcast Russ Hughes is joined this week by Mark M Thompson and James Ivey to discuss all things guitar, from playing arranging and recording through to hiring a player

In this edition of The Production Expert Podcast Mike Thornton, Reid Caulfield and Emma Butt look at all things dialogue for both factual and drama audio post-production, including the way we lay out sessions, the use of colour, how we handle processing and matching different takes.

In this week’s Podcast Mike Thornton, William Wittman and Julian Rodgers consider the emergence of Artificial Intelligence in Plugins. Can AI ever really make contextually appropriate mix decisions and if it can does that help or threaten mix engineers?

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, James Richmond and Chris Vandeviver loog down into the dusty corners of their Plugin folders and ask why they stopped using some of their plugins?

In this week’s podcast Mike Thornton, Eli Krantzberg and Steve DeMott consider the potential of music streaming. Much has been said about how musicans rewarded (or mot) from streaming. What about the studio business?

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, James Ivey and Audrey Martinovich discuss microphones. Responding to an excellent video produced by Antelope Audio in which studio legend Sylvia Massy goes completely over the top miking Taylor Hawkins’ drums - Excellent!

In this week’s Podcast, Russ Hughes and Julian Rodgers are joined by Mike Exeter. With the return of lockdown conditions in the UK, they discuss what we can all do to look after ourselves both in our work lives and beyond, although the difference between work and home is an increasingly 2019 concept for many of us!

In this week’s Podcast Mike Thornton is joined by Korey Pereira and Chris Roberts. With the return of lockdown conditions in the UK they revisit the subject of remote workflows. How has their experience of remote working in Post been and what have they learned since last year?

In this week’s Podcast Russ Hughes, William Wittman and Chris Vandeviver discuss plugin choice and to what extent peer pressure, Fear Of Missing Out and endorsements influence our choices. It’s tempting to say that the only thing which matters is the sound but can any of us honestly say our choices aren’t influenced by anything else? - Really?

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, Steve DeMott and James Richmond call out their most mossed discontinued pro audio products, software or hardware. Products often don’t disappear because nobody wants them. What did you miss when it went and would you use it today if it came back?

In this week’s Podcast Mike Thornton, Audrey Martinovich and James Ivey compare notes on Black Friday Weekend. What did we we buy? Big ticket items or sundries?

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, Eli Krantzberg and James Richmond discuss the release of Apple Silicon based Macs. The potential for performance gains is huge but the practical considerations for such a new development are potentially complex. Who wants one and if so, when?

In this week’s Podcast Russ Hughes, Alan Sallabank and Sara Carter discuss the release of Pro Tools 2020.11 and Pro Tools Carbon. A new audio interface from Avid is something we haven’t seen for years and to see a music focused DSP product along with the most significant Pro Tools release in a while gives the panel a lot to digest.

In this week’s Podcast Mike Thornton, Julian Rodgers and Emma Butt talk about the potential for the new announcement from Townsend Labs about their software fix for reflection filters. Could this be good news for post production?

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, Sara Carter and William Wittman talk about the role of the engineer and whether one of the most important skills we should develop is learning when to stop?

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, Steve DeMott and Chris Vandeviver discuss spill in the studio, Whether between mics on a drum kit, that unbelievably loud guitar combo which is all over everything or headphones leaking onto the vocal mic, what do we do to control it and when should we let it… bleed? 

In this week’s Podcast Mike Thornton, James Ivey and Eli Krantzberg discuss the weakness common to the majority of hardware controllers - Plug-in control.

In this week’s Podcast Julian Rodgers, Audrey Martinovich and James Richmond discuss whether technology can address poor tracking spaces? Years ago we would never have believed that we could model a U47 or that RX could ever do what it does. Will we ever be able to call up a useable “Voiceover Booth” preset?

In this week’s Podcast Russ Hughes, Julian Rodgers and Sara Carter discuss their studios and the steps they have taken to make sure they remain healthy and productive. From software tweaks to furniture choice, we spend a lot of time in our studios so how do we make them work for us?

In this Post Production Podcast special Mike Thornton, Emma Butt and Alan Sallabank discuss whether problems with remote working are because because of remote working itself or because of remote working being done badly. Can it work in post production?

With pretty much every part of recording Studios having moved “In the Box” as software, in a new, shorter format podcast Julian Rodgers, Audrey Martinovich and William Wittman discuss what they think is best kept out of the box.

In a new, shorter format podcast Russ Hughes, Sara Carter and James Ivey discuss their first studio setups, what they had and how much they would cost today, the results are surprising!

In a new, shorter format podcast Julian Rodgers, Eli Krantzberg and Chris Vandevivier discuss their audio “lightbulb moments”. Those significant moments  when we notice or learn something about audio which stays with us, learning something new and opening up new ideas.

Mike Thornton, Audrey Martinovich and William Wittman talk about experimentation in the studio. With so much production happening in private studios where the clock isn’t being watched in the same way as it is in a commercial setting, is there more justification for a more open ended approach to recording. Does time pressure keep focus or stifle creativity?

Julian Rodgers, James Richmond and Steve DeMott discuss AVB, how it differs from Dante and how Steve used it to solve a specific problem in his studio. For talking point two a discussion of control surfaces turns into a discussion of Stream Deck. To close they share their finds of the week.

Russ Hughes, James Ivey and Sara Carter share their recording horror stories. As the saying goes, if something can go wrong… To close they share their finds of the week.

Mike Thornton, Julian Rodgers and Emma Butt discuss the importance of training and trainees. What advice do they give to people who are starting out on their audio careers? To close they share their finds of the week.

Mike Thornton, James Richmond and Chris Vanderviver discuss how to make your studio business as profitable as possible. In addition, they talk about the tools they wish they have but aren’t around yet and to close they share their finds of the week.

In this week’s podcast, Julian, Sara and William talk about their experiences of working with orchestral players, either as an orchestra or working with sections of string, brass and woodwind. In addition, they talk about free plug-ins and finds of the week are shared.

In this week’s podcast, Mike, Eli and Steve talk about their buying habits. From semi-necessary guitar purchases to completely unnecessary plugins, we all have gear buying habits which are driven more by our hearts than our heads. Is this a bad thing and could we stop if we wanted to? In addition, the issues presented by recording drums in domestic spaces are discussed and finds of the week are shared.

In this week’s podcast, Julian, Audrey and James talk about breaking the “rules”. Maybe better referred to as conventions, there are some ways of doing things which are so common that we sometimes follow them unquestioningly but as the saying goes - rules are to be broken!

In this week’s podcast, Russ, Julian and Sara discuss Apple’s announcement of their move to ARM based chips in future Macs. What does it mean for audio professionals and what effect will it have on developers? They also discuss  the use of the word ‘Stem” in audio and share their finds of the week.

In this week’s podcast, Mike, Alan and Emma discuss their experiences of working in post-production  during COVID. How have things changed? To what extent have remote working practices replaced face to face interactions and when people are actually in the same building, how is safety maintained? 

In this week’s podcast Julian and Audrey are joined by James Richmond. They discuss mix references. We all have tracks with which we assess and judge our mixes, equipment and environments. Why do we choose particular tracks and what are the reasons behind these choices? They also consider the development of audio recording and ask whether there was a sweet spot and if so, when it happened.

In this week’s podcast Russ and Sara are joined by William Wittman. They discuss mixing, specifically the mistakes they keep seeing, or making. Over-compression? Monitoring too loud? Not using a reference? Confusing louder with better? There are so many pitfalls, which do they single out as their personal bugbear?

In this week’s podcast Julian and Chris are joined by Steve DeMott. They discuss the use of additional screens in the studio, whether carrying Apps which supplement DAWs or anything else and the wisdom of buying cheap equipment.

In this week’s podcast Mike, James and Audrey discuss channel strips and studio security, Do we use channel strip plug-ins or do we create our own from individual EQs and compressors? Is there a sonic benefit in using the same processes across every channel? 

In this week’s podcast Julian and Eli welcome James Richmond to a podcast in which they discuss the relevance of analogue consoles to production work in 2020. Most of us admire them but would we actually use one if it were available. Let alone pay for one and tolerate the running costs?

In this week’s podcast Russ, Dan and Sara are discussing the practicalities of using a laptop as the only computer in a professional studio. Laptops have been suitable for pre-production, songwriting, tracking,  mixing and many other things for a long time but so many of us own a desktop for the studio and a second laptop in addition - Why?

In this week’s podcast Mike and Julian catch up with Emma, who has been busier than she expected. What opportunities are out there for people working in post and are is all the work being done remotely or are parts of the industry starting to adapt to social distancing? Dolby Atmos is here to stay so is it time to get educated? The team discuss…

Like most of us Julian, Dan and Sara are all spending even more time in their studios during lockdown, On this week’s podcast we discuss what we’ve done to ensure our studios don’t damage our bodies, and hopefully our minds. What have we done and what changes would we like to make to create spaces which don’t risk RSI, poor posture and all the other issues extended sedentary work can cause.

James and Julian welcome Chris Vandeviver from Logic Pro Expert to the podcast and discuss monitors, specifically what we are using, what we like and what we’d like to try. Coaxial monitors, Beryllium tweeters and the merits of inexpensive monitors get discussed along with deals, our finds of the week and the inevitable, and unavoidable Coronavirus.

Mike, Dan and Eli swap tips and ideas about production, arrangement and mixing. Vocal tuning, intelligent virtual player plugins, the merits or otherwise of analogue emulations… In these days of few technical limitations do we embrace this freedom or does it make things more difficult to make decisions?

The long anticipated LUNA launch happened last week to much excitement but James, Julian and Audrey ask why we should try it and what does it bring to the DAW landscape?

Acoustic Treatment is important but how much difference does it make and how much should acoustic performance affect how you use your studio space? Russ, Julian and Sara discuss in this week’s production Expert Podcast.

In our latest Post Production Special with the profound effect of COVID-19 on the industry there has never been so much to talk about. We hear the perspectives of Mike Alan and Emma on this rapidly changing situation.

With so many working from home how do we best face the challenges both practical, social and emotional that this can present, especially if you aren’t used to it? There’s probably 50 years combined experience of working from home between the podcast team, what advice can they share?

It wouldn’t be possible for us to avoid the subject of the spread of coronavirus around the world. We’ll leave the health advice to others but do we have any advice for people working in audio who find themselves affected by the changes these events are causing in our working lives?

James, Dan and Eli discuss templates. With Dan having recently moved over on to a PC and Studio One, James being a Pro Tools user on PC and Eli being a Logic user is is very much a mixed environment but does that affect their approach to templates?

Russ, Julian and Sara discuss client approvals and the tools we can use to share and get feedback on work. Are you still happy sending dropbox links and getting email lists of revisions or are you using something more sophisticated? This week’s Production Expert Podcast also includes new competitions for March and random discussions about AMSR.

In a break from the norm we have Eli, Emma and Audrey presenting the Production Expert Podcast. Talking points include which plug-ins they reach for when starting a mix and what they do to improve their skills, something which is particularly relevant in an industry in which so many freelancers don’t have the regular contact with colleagues and peers which people in other industries enjoy.

Which is the best audio interface? That largely depends on what features you need it to have and as we find out in this week’s Production Expert Podcast, that very much depends on who you are and what you do.

In this week’s podcast the team talk about the new Mac Pro. HDX users wanted a machine with PCI slots for their cards but our recent power test proved that there was so much power available in the Mac Pro that the processing power of HDX is largely unnecessary for most users. Aren’t the people who really benefit from the power of the Mac Pro people working in Dolby Atmos? However because of the way Dolby Audio Bridge works those users can’t use their HDX processing. The team talk through the issues.

Russ, James and Alan talk about the differences between working in Post and Music, and whether or not immersive audio is driving new demand?

James, Julian and Dan discuss what other skills you need to run a successful audio business.

In this Production Expert podcast Russ, Mike and Sara discuss how as freelancers and small businesses we promote ourselves. They also talk about their top picks of NAMM 2020.

In this Production Expert podcast Russ, Mike and Eli discuss whether access to so much information, experts are no longer required. They also talk about what they hope to see at NAMM 2020.

In the Production Expert podcast James, Julian and Audrey discuss how they set their prices and what they hope to see at NAMM 2020.

In the Production Expert podcast Mike, Julian and Dan discuss their finds of 2019 and share some suggestions from the community.

In the Production Expert podcast Mike, Julian and Dan discuss subscriptions. How many do we have, what for and are they necessarily a bad thing?

In the Production Expert podcast Mike, Alan and Emma present the second of our Post Production specials. Among other things they discuss whether or not stems should be dipped and whether feature length content is best tackled in reels or full length super-sessions?

In the Production Expert podcast Russ, Eli and James discuss whether Apple products cost the environment as well as our pockets?

In the Production Expert podcast Mike, Russ and James discuss making a living in Pro Audio and the announcement of the new Behringer Wing digital mixer.

In the Production Expert podcast James, Julian and Alan discuss Hackintoshes. Are they worth it or are they too much hassle?

In the Production Expert podcast Julian, Eli and Audrey discuss our relationship with gear. We all love buying new stuff but we feel guilty if we don’t use the gear we have as much as we could. Should be be sensible or give in to gear lust and break out the plastic?

In the Production Expert podcast Mike, James and Julian discuss the role and merits of training and experience and how each can help your career.  They also share their finds of the week.

In the Production Expert podcast James, Dan and Julian discuss the news from AES 2019 in New York. They also share their finds of the week.

In the Production Expert podcast James, Dan and Julian ask whicj piece of gear they sold and later regretted? They also share their finds of the week

In the Production Expert podcast Russ, Dan and Eli ask why Apple users are so loyal? They also share their finds of the week.

In the Production Expert podcast Mike, Julian and Audrey consider what career advice they would give their 18 year old selves. They also share their finds of the week.

In the first Production Expert podcast Post Production special Mike, Alan and Emma talk about their favourite tools for Post and the significance of working in your own studio. They also share their finds of the week.

In the Production Expert podcast James, Julian and Eli talk about New York style compression, what is it, how do you do it and why would you do it? They also discuss studio cleanliness and share their finds of the week.

In the Production Expert podcast Russ, Julian and Audrey talk about the quality of consumer playback and why compact disc represented a high water mark for domestic audio.